The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has imposed a penalty of ₹ 2 lakh on Shubhra Ranjan IAS Study for making misleading claims in advertisement regarding UPSC Civil Service Exam 2023.

“CCPA directed the Institute to discontinue the misleading advertisements with immediate effect and pay a penalty of ₹ 2,00,000 for publishing misleading advertisements.The decision was taken to protect & promote the rights of consumers as a class and ensure that no false or misleading advertisement is made of any goods or services which contravenes the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019,” it added.

This ispart of its ongoing crackdown on misleading advertisements made by coaching institutes. CCPA has so far issued 45 notices to various coaching institutes for misleading advertisements. It has also imposed a penalty of over 63 lakhs on 20 coaching institutes and directed them to discontinue the misleading advertisements.

According to CCPA, Shubhra Ranjan IAS Study in its advertisement made misleading claims including , “13 students in Top 100”, “28 students in Top 200” and “39 students in Top 300” in UPSC CSE 2023. The ads also prominently displayed succesful candidate’s names and photographs of the UPSC Civil Service Exam 2023, without mentioning any information about the specific course opted by such candidates.

“ The DG Investigation report found that most of the claimed successful students took Political Science and International Relations (PSIR) crash course & test series which comes into play after clearing Preliminary examination.For the potential consumers, this information would have contributed in their making an informed choice about the course to opt for their success at CSE,” the CCPA order mentioend.

“By deliberately concealing information about the specific course opted by each of the successful candidates, Institute made it look like all the courses offered by it had the same success rate for the consumers, which was not right,” it added.

The coaching institute also used terms such as “Shubhra Ranjan IAS” and “Students of Shubhra Ranjan IAS” in its advertisements and letterheads, creating a deceptive impression that Mrs. Shubhra Ranjan is/was an IAS officer. This constitutes a misrepresentation and unfair trade practice under Consumer Protection Act 2019, thereby misleading the public and potential students into believing that the services or guidance provided by them are directly associated with the credibility of an IAS officer, it added.

Published on December 22, 2024